“The Act of what?” Eola said, puzzled. She'd not heard of that one. “What does it do? Declare martial law or something?”
“No,” said Nepos softly. “No, it's, well, traditionally if a Reach-King or Queen or any leader turned out to be completely incompetent or insane, the only solution was for a challenger to gain sufficient support to take over and that invariably involved killing the incumbent. Your father became chief of Karthspire that way.”
“I know,” Eola said, remembering the story of how she'd had an uncle Kelvan once, before she was born. He'd been Mireen's younger brother, barely twenty or so when their father had died and Kelvan had become chief, chosen over Mireen because women weren't chiefs back then. He'd turned out to be a licentious waste of space, using and abusing his power to gather a harem of women, insisting on a right of seniority that gave him first pick of the tribe's young girls up for initiation, whether they wanted him or not. After three such incidents, virtually every parent of a daughter in the tribe was visiting Madanach and Mireen in secret, begging them to help. As a father of a young nine-month-old baby girl, Madanach was sympathetic, and when Kelvan decided sixteen was an arbitrary age of consent anyway, and girls could be up for initiation as soon as they started their monthly bleeding, Madanach decided enough was enough. Three weeks later, Kelvan met his end with Madanach's boot forcing his head into the Karth while his Destruction magic froze the entire surface of the river solid, and Madanach was chief. The rise to power had started there.
“I'm sure you do,” Nepos said. “Well, Madanach and I discussed the matter and decided there had to be a better way of allowing unjust rulers to be reined in without either a civil war, bloody coup or the Dark Brotherhood getting involved. So we thought about it and came up with the Act of Regency, in which if the ruler turns out to be unfit to rule, a Council of Regents can form, comprised of the Steward, Field-Marshal, First Matriarch, Consort if there is one and there invariably will be, and the heir to the throne. Also if the ruler has a living parent, they can take the consort's place. They take over instead of the ruler until said ruler is fit to return. We need three of the five to declare regency, and all five to give assent within the first month as chances are they won't all be in the city at the time. You and me are here, the Queen's out of reach, but we can get someone porting out to Keirine to fetch her within the hour – I know her opinion on Skooma, she will not hesitate to back us. I can't imagine Uraccen will be terribly sympathetic to Madanach when he hears Uaile was hurt either. He's in Lost Valley at the moment but we can get him back here soon enough.”
“We're deposing him??” Eola gasped and Lucia's eyes had gone wide.
“You can't do that, he's King!” Lucia cried. “What'll happen to us?”
“Nothing, you'll be taken care of and loved as you always were, little one,” Nepos said gently. “Which would not be the case if Madanach had to be overthrown by force, I promise you. As it is, we're not deposing him. We're merely taking supreme executive power out of his hands until he's sorted himself out, and given he's currently staring into space babbling about what a waste of flesh he is, do you honestly think he's in any state to be giving orders to anyone? In fact, if he'd not specifically ordered that Eola and myself were not to disturb him, one of us would probably have been here and stopped him.”
“I'm gonna be Queen Regent,” Eola said faintly, fingering her wolf's head torc. “Gods help us.”
“Indeed, the council needs a leader and as current heir to the throne, you're the best option,” Nepos nodded. “Looks like less of a coup if the current heir is in charge. As it is, I have no doubt he'll be furious and may never forgive us for this, but he has largely brought this on himself.”
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Thicker Than Blood 8.7
Date: 2014-02-23 09:03 pm (UTC)“No,” said Nepos softly. “No, it's, well, traditionally if a Reach-King or Queen or any leader turned out to be completely incompetent or insane, the only solution was for a challenger to gain sufficient support to take over and that invariably involved killing the incumbent. Your father became chief of Karthspire that way.”
“I know,” Eola said, remembering the story of how she'd had an uncle Kelvan once, before she was born. He'd been Mireen's younger brother, barely twenty or so when their father had died and Kelvan had become chief, chosen over Mireen because women weren't chiefs back then. He'd turned out to be a licentious waste of space, using and abusing his power to gather a harem of women, insisting on a right of seniority that gave him first pick of the tribe's young girls up for initiation, whether they wanted him or not. After three such incidents, virtually every parent of a daughter in the tribe was visiting Madanach and Mireen in secret, begging them to help. As a father of a young nine-month-old baby girl, Madanach was sympathetic, and when Kelvan decided sixteen was an arbitrary age of consent anyway, and girls could be up for initiation as soon as they started their monthly bleeding, Madanach decided enough was enough. Three weeks later, Kelvan met his end with Madanach's boot forcing his head into the Karth while his Destruction magic froze the entire surface of the river solid, and Madanach was chief. The rise to power had started there.
“I'm sure you do,” Nepos said. “Well, Madanach and I discussed the matter and decided there had to be a better way of allowing unjust rulers to be reined in without either a civil war, bloody coup or the Dark Brotherhood getting involved. So we thought about it and came up with the Act of Regency, in which if the ruler turns out to be unfit to rule, a Council of Regents can form, comprised of the Steward, Field-Marshal, First Matriarch, Consort if there is one and there invariably will be, and the heir to the throne. Also if the ruler has a living parent, they can take the consort's place. They take over instead of the ruler until said ruler is fit to return. We need three of the five to declare regency, and all five to give assent within the first month as chances are they won't all be in the city at the time. You and me are here, the Queen's out of reach, but we can get someone porting out to Keirine to fetch her within the hour – I know her opinion on Skooma, she will not hesitate to back us. I can't imagine Uraccen will be terribly sympathetic to Madanach when he hears Uaile was hurt either. He's in Lost Valley at the moment but we can get him back here soon enough.”
“We're deposing him??” Eola gasped and Lucia's eyes had gone wide.
“You can't do that, he's King!” Lucia cried. “What'll happen to us?”
“Nothing, you'll be taken care of and loved as you always were, little one,” Nepos said gently. “Which would not be the case if Madanach had to be overthrown by force, I promise you. As it is, we're not deposing him. We're merely taking supreme executive power out of his hands until he's sorted himself out, and given he's currently staring into space babbling about what a waste of flesh he is, do you honestly think he's in any state to be giving orders to anyone? In fact, if he'd not specifically ordered that Eola and myself were not to disturb him, one of us would probably have been here and stopped him.”
“I'm gonna be Queen Regent,” Eola said faintly, fingering her wolf's head torc. “Gods help us.”
“Indeed, the council needs a leader and as current heir to the throne, you're the best option,” Nepos nodded. “Looks like less of a coup if the current heir is in charge. As it is, I have no doubt he'll be furious and may never forgive us for this, but he has largely brought this on himself.”